Aphilodon modestus Silvestri, 1909

Calvanese, Victor C., Brescovit, Antonio D. & Bonato, Lucio, 2019, Revision of the Neotropical species of Aphilodontinae (Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae), with eight new species and a first phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily, Zootaxa 4698 (1), pp. 1-72 : 27-28

Aphilodon modestus Silvestri, 1909

Aphilodon modestus Silvestri 1909a: 269 (in key; original description); Silvestri 1909b: 57 (description), plate XII, figs 1–4; Attems 1929: 315 (in key), 316 (description); Bücherl 1940: 313; Foddai et al. 2000: 105; Pereira et al. 2007: 47 (description); Bonato et al. 2011: 408; Bonato et al. 2015: 219.

Type specimens. Holotype: ♀, from “Tacurú Pucú” ( Silvestri 1909b), deposited in MCSG.

Type locality. Paraguay: Tacurú Pucú .

Taxonomic history. The species was originally described under the genus Aphilodon and this assignment was never questioned. A. modestus is here confirmed in the genus Aphilodon like A. intermedius because, although Silvestri (1909b) did not provide detailed information on the ultimate legs, in particular on the existence of a terminal spine (which is a major synapomorphy of the genus), the described forcipular apparatus and second maxillae are fully consistent with the morphology otherwise found in Aphilodon .

Notes on nomenclature. The single known specimen of A. modestus , which was described and illustrated by Silvestri (1909a, 1909b), has been searched directly by one of us (VCC) at MCSG, where the myriapodological collection of Silvestri is currently housed, but it was not found. No other specimens were recorded until now.

Material examined. None.

Diagnosis. A species of Aphilodon with: around 45 leg-bearing segments; known body length in adults 9 mm; cephalic plate length/width ratio ca. 1.1; antenna not distinctly tapering towards tip,> 2 times as long as cephalic plate; pectinate lamella of mandible with straight denticles; coxosternite of second maxillae not distinctly shorter in middle part; forcipular pretergite exposed; forcipule with lateral margin posteriorly straight; distal denticle of trochanteroprefemur and denticle of femur separate and relatively large, denticle of tibia almost absent; tarsungulum ca. 0.7 times as long as trochanteroprefemur+femur; each coxopleuron with ca. 5 coxal pores in adults; ultimate presternite entirely exposed; metasternite of ultimate leg-bearing segment length/width ratio ca. 0.3; ultimate legs with tarsus 1 ca. 1.5 times as long as tibia.

A. modestus differs from all other species of Aphilodon by having forcipular denticles only on trochanteroprefemur and femur (Silvestri, 1909: Fig. XI).

Recorded specimens: a single specimen, ♀.

Distribution. Paraguay—Tacurú-Pacú ( Silvestri 1909a, 1909b).